3/28/11

3/27/11

April 25th: April Penn Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 25th, Stone Soup brings National Poetry Month to a satisfying conclusion as April Penn has her first feature at Stone Soup.

April Penn moved to Boston one year after graduating class of 2008 from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. She earned a B.A. in English, specializing in American Transcendentalism and feminist experimental writing. She learned much more from the poetry scene in Boston, however, than she ever learned in school. She completed the 365 challenge to write 365 poems in a year for 2010 and is well on her way to doing the same in 2011. Working with poet Michael F. Gill, she was a founding member of the the Brighton Word Factory, a very productive writer's group that meets every other Thursday in Brighton. Her first chapbook, One inside the other, is a DIY success and owes much to the writing of Michelle Tea and Eileen Myles.

3/21/11

April 18th: The Fifth and Sixth Horsemen Return

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 18th, the Fifth and Sixth Horsemen, Lee Litif and Chris Robbins, return for annual their Stone Soup. It is the most contraversal night of the year at Stone Soup, and you are invited to contribute your own outrageous material to the open mike to compliment the outrageousness on display.

The most infamous open miker at the venue. Lee Litif has been a regular contribution to the Stone Soup open mike since 1991. He's the author of several chapbooks, including Unpatriotic Flags and Abominating White Houses, Reckless Paella and Defecating Republicans, and Ultrasonic Amplifiers and Marshall Amps/Genital Wart Puking Rednecks. He's been described as "The love child of Gallagher and Larry Fischer with G.G. Allin as midwife" by Stone Soup host Chad Parenteau.

If you can imagine Alice Walker dating Jim Morrison and their kid having George Carlin and John Valby for teachers, you’d have a fair picture of Chris Robbins. His darker side is a cross between “Animal Farm” and “Animal House”. Ever since he discovered that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, he quit writing feminist poems in favor of writing autistic ones because he believes that he’ll become more relevant that way. In other words, just like former Boston Red Sox player Manny Ramirez joining the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chris is playing on a different team now, but he’s still playing the same game.

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 11th, Stone Soup celebrates the return of Valerie Loveland.

Valerie Loveland is the author of Reanimated, Somehow (Scrambler Books, 2009). Her poetry has appeared in Dzanc Book's anthology Best of the Web 2008 and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is a regular at various open mics around the Boston area and a co-founder of the poetry group Amethyst and Arsenic.

Valerie enjoys running and listening to audio poetry. She is an optician apprentice and lives and works in Acton, MA.

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On April 4th, Stone Soup kicks off National Poetry Month with acclaimed local poet Jennifer Jean.

Jennifer Jean is the author of In the War (Big Table Publishing Co., 2010), a themed poetry chapbook about growing up as a bookworm amid urban warfare and spiritual famine in Los Angeles; as well it deals with her relationship with an absentee Vietnam War veteran father. Her work has been published in numerous journals, including North Dakota Quarterly, Denver Quarterly, Awakenings Review, Santa Clara Review, Southern California... Review, Caketrain, Relief Quarterly, The Wilderness House Review, The MOM Egg Journal, and Megaera. Notably, her work has appeared in the audio anthologies Whale Sound, and Two Weeks; also, she is the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Agnes Butler Award. She directs Thursday’s Theatre of Words & Music artist performance series at the Salem Athenaeum, is the librettist for the Fishwife Music Project, is an active member of the committee producing the Salem-based 2011 Massachusetts Poetry Festival, and she teaches writing and literature at Salem State University. Jennifer lives with her husband and two children in Salem, MA. For more on Jennifer, go to: www.fishwifetales.com

3/13/11

March 28th: Jen Campbell Features at Stone Soup

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 28th, we welcome another friend back to Stone Soup.

Jen Campbell: She’s lived a life, but then so have you. She’s worked hard and tried to be good. She’s stood on the edge with wet toes and looked down over the edge. And sit back with a nice glass of scotch without a care. She’s an avid birder and psychic for hire. She’s a wife, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. She’s swished two words together and calls it a poem. She’s good with a pot, some heat, and a carrot. Her hair is combed, but her nails aren’t done. She only runs when she chased, but she enjoys a good walk across the length of Cambridge. None can call her a villain. But she’s just bad enough that none can call her nice. If this sounds like a treat, then come.

3/3/11

March 21: Martin Willitts Jr and Linda Griggs Feature

Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m. On March 22nd, we welcome the return of Martin Willitts Jr. and Linda Griggs.

Martin Willitts Jr and Linda Griggs are from Syracuse, New York.

Martin Willitts Jr graduated from Syracuse University with a MLS in Information Studies. He has been an oral storyteller, puppeteer, and “Science Magician” that can bounce eggs and throws ordinary playing cards into hypnotized watermelons. He is currently a Senior Librarian in upstate New York. He is a visual artist of Victorian and Chinese paper cutouts. He was one of nine winners of the international 2003 John Cotton Dana Award for library programs and publicity. He was the winner of the 2007 Chenango County Council of the Arts Individual Artist Award funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. He was recently nominated for two Best of The Net awards and his 5th Pushcart award. He has an online interview http://www.caperjournal.com/ (issue 8).

He has print chapbooks "Falling In and Out of Love" (Pudding House Publications, 2005), “Lowering Nets of Light” (Pudding House Publications, 2007), The Garden of French Horns” (Pudding House Publications, 2008), “Baskets of Tomorrow” (Flutter Press, 2009); online chapbooks "Farewell--the journey now begins" on (http://www.languageandculture.net/, 2006), “News from the Front” (http://www.slowtrains.com/, 2007), “Words & Paper” (http://www.threelightsgallery.com/, 2008); edited a poetry anthology about cancer, “Alternatives to Surrender” (Plain View Press, 2007); two full length books "The Secret Language of the Universe" (March Street Press, 2006), and “The Hummingbird” (March Street Press, 2009). He has four new chapbooks: “The Girl Who Sang Forth Horses” (Pudding House Publications, 2010), “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers for Cezanne” (Finishing Line Press, 2010), “True Simplicity” (Poets Wear Prada Press, 2011), and “Art Is Always an Impression of What an Artist Sees” (Muse Café, 2011). His website is: http://www.redroom.com/member/Willitts.Linda Griggs has a BS in art education and a MPS degree in the Applied Work of the Humanistic Psychologists. Currently an adjunct professor at SUNY Empire State College, Syracuse Unit, she worked as an art teacher and private mental health counselor, and she has worked with at-risk youth in Syracuse. She is a Conscientious Objector Counselor, a past member of an anti-racist response group, and a member of Syracuse Interfaith Works. Linda was published in anthologies Poetry From Art (2008) and Poetry From Nature (2010). She has been a featured reader at Mud Puddle Cafe (New Paltz, NY) and Cubbyhole Cafe (Poughkeepsie, NY), and was a guest reader at Veela Festival (New Paltz, NY) and the Strathsmore Art Festival (Syracuse, NY). She wrote the chapbook "Love Poems of the Universe". She wrote and illustrated a children's book The Night of Starfish People, which is awaiting publication. She is the host and founder of the Palace Poetry Group (Syracuse, NY).